HANGZHOU - Seven producers of toxic gel medicine capsules have been sentenced to up to 11 years imprisonment by a court in East China's Zhejiang province.

The Xinchang County People's Court handed down the verdicts on Wednesday to Wang Qing and six others over their production and sale of toxic, harmful food products.

Wang was sentenced to 11 years in jail. Laisan Xuejun, Pan Xiaochong and Zheng Changhuo received sentences ranging from five years and two months to seven years. Zhang Qincui, Wang Meifei and Wang Tianming were given suspended jail terms of up to three years. They were all also fined.

Between 2010 and April 2012, three companies of Wang and the six others manufactured and sold drug capsules with industrial gelatin, which contained excessive levels of chromium, according to the court.

The toxic capsule scandal was exposed by the media in April 2012.